Yay, one less on the bucket list. Very excited. I’m pretty confident you’ve asked all the questions/probes/angles we always wanted to ask but never could and questions/probes/angles we never thought we had in us, but you’ve figured, somehow.

Oh this coincidence of the weirdest order, and magical. JUST TWO DAYS AGO I wondered as to why there was no comprehensive material/book on mani ratnam. I was digging out his old interviews (Courtesy wiki entries on Iruvar that led to articles and interviews dating to ’95/’96/’97/’98) and they are hard to come by, and realized that his interviews are such a tease. They say so much in so less, and boom they are over!

What excites me more is that his work, (his collaboration with like minded people from within and outside the industry) more or less is such a nice representative of the times they were set in, the people that inhabited them, and their thoughts. It’s like flipping through old editions of India Today magazine.

While I can’t wait to read this book, I am also waiting for the book that will showcase your awesome writing talent. I wish you would author a book of essays on –well just about anything (except maybe your culinary travelogues which are somewhat pedestrian when compared to the rest of your writing)

I second sukanya here. Also keep off anything to do with cinema or cannes. (if you feel you’re needing to consult wikipedia for word choices or background too often, you’ll probably not be “book ” grade when you write.

Keep to mani…agni…bhuvana…Kamal and rajini B movies…shankar ganesh…1980’s …1990’s ….gautam menon (for some reason you seem to have good chemistry with that poser)…..music academy(but not carnatic music…your knowledge seems to be restricted to gazing admiringly at sudha raghunathan’s sarees)…ducks in a zurich pond….how terrible hindi film is…arre o sambar….(why does that make me think of whats her name who used to work at the hindu?) …..cinemadurai….

mani is just an overhyped director.its the plain truth. this guy is only capable of doing grandiose song and dance sequences .AR rahman should be given true credit for saving his films with extraordinary song compositions.the media has manipulated and projected his image to be a visionary filmmaker.any day i would rate sajid khan or rohit shetty or still ks ravikumar as a better director because these guys know that the films they do are campy or funny trash and they treat these films with that spirit unlike mani who actually makes commercial films with big song sequences and big actors , big pre hype advertisements and treat them on par with world class films.may be one or 2 films he made are good .but that doesn‘t elevate him to the status he receives today.so mani is an average director and an extraordinary master of dance and song choreographer (I have no direct contact or enemity towards mani ratnam,hell i even haven‘t met him)

Mani’s last blockbuster(or maybe close to it) was probably Bombay in 1995. The reputation or brand he had forged by then had seem him survive through these last 17 years without delivering a single hit in that range. I think he might have set a record for an A-list director going the maximum time without any of his films being commercially viable. Iam talking about only the commercial aspect here, not how those films fared critically.

I had always thought (and maybe even mentioned here before, I dont remember) that between the three usual suspects-Kamal, IR, Mani Rathnam, BR had the best chance to do something like this with MR. Atleast the foreword is not by Suhasini, thats a good start 🙂

Mani is a classic example of anomaly. A ‘mainstream’ director who remained commercially unsuccessful that too during his peak period. This is a heady combination. His films had sparks of brilliance but could never pull through due to combination of reasons – his untalented wife parading as a dialogue writer, a story that had soul but executed badly (Raavanan), more emphasis on technique than content (Aaytha Ezhuthu) etc. etc. Raavanan by any other director would have done better – simply because it required a “non-classy” (for lack of better word) handling. Mani’s so called class spoiled it. Then Kannathil Muththamittal had “connection” issues – surreal songs, powerful screenplay toned down to fit Mani’s vision of the world etc. This man is worth writing a book on. Book should be ideally named – “A man of taste, making movies that go waste”.

kannathil mutthamittal got 6 national awards.guru was a hit.any one can comment easily about a great film maker.comments r always welcomed.dont know why we as audience speak lot about a film being a commercial hit or not.all we need is great films that mani has always been giving for so many years.only the producer has to worry about commercial success and not audience.moreover will a film maker will do films if its not appealing or earning money.do u want mani to publicize that i have made 40 crores profit through this and that.its a cheap trick..so no need to talk bad about a genius just for showing ur intellect.every director in india has accepted his vision and admire him as a true genius.our so called good directors like g1menon and selvaraghavan has said mani is our god father.so better watch dabaang,wanted and robot if u want to enjoy commercial films.

well ar rahman is also doing films for other directors also.why cant he is able to save saved all of them.does ur posted comments have any sense?times magazine,venice,cannes all gave him their highest honour.why cant they give it to ur ks ravikumar and so called crap director shankar.ur comments shows ur ignorance.its maniratnam who challenged rahman and took him to new areas.mani knows how to make money man.have u seen iruvar,kannathil mutthmaittal and dilse?leave that bloody box office reports he is the greatest filmmaker of our generation.he wont speak even if u post bad comments about his films but his films have life and its inspiring for so many young film makers.thats enough.morevoer even if u have enimity against maniratnam thats not going to bother him anand.better make a film and teach mani how to make films rather than shouting in a closed room.

Alaypayuthe did good business in the city but was the reason they stamped maniratnam an urban director. (earlier films like dalapathi and roja were either hits or flops. A center hit and B & C center flop phenomenon afflicted mani because of alaypayuthe.

Guru wasn’t a success. it was DECLARED one because one of Ambani’s sons was getting into Bollywood then (they both are in it now) and it was a matter of “prestige”.

Karikala Chozhan : ” A ‘mainstream’ director who remained commercially unsuccessful that too during his peak period. ” – i guess that depends on what you would call as his peak period. In the late 80’s to early/mid -90’s he was box-office gold. He was a huge hit in the demography that matters -> 18 – 35 urbanites. Post Roja his output admittedly has been variable.

Thanks for that clarification Raj. I was so damn sure that there was no chance in hell for Nerukku Ner and Alai Payudhey coming out in the same year. Cause I was working in Singapore when the former released (and I couldn’t get the “Manam Virumbudhey” song outta my skull) and back in KL when Alai released. I estimated a gap of at least 2 years. Turns out it’s 3.

Prof, you’re well within your rights to take a steaming dump on Rahman while directing a jet stream of urine at Mani, but please, please, please…pretty please with cream on top…..do not pull facts outta places where the sun don’t shine.

Ks ravikumar‘s films are trashy and he acknowleges that they are indeed masala for money unlike mani who makes pretentios masala entertainers andpromote them at canne as world class cinema. Even ravikumar dresses ,chats and walks like a real masala director on the sets.unlike mani who wears spectacles and remain silent on sets as if he is a great thinker.its all a big facade.

sir avar sollikittu thiriyala mani is the first indian director to win Jaeger LeCoultre award in venice and his film nayagan has been included in times magazine all time best 100 movies list.indha over rated under rated yaellam namba timepass kaaga paesara vishayam sir.ar rahman,kamal,maniratnam,ivanga overrated nu paesara kootam yeppavumae iruku.ar rahman is overrated no 10000 articles internet la iruku avar copy adikarar nu solla 10000 articles iruku.so if u r a genius u have to undergo these criticisms.his film raavan is one of the rarest films to be included in austrias museum.what more u can expect a director to achieve mr.rameshram?ivlo paesara neenga rajni,shankar.ajith nu kuppaya films panravangala patthi comment pannuvingala?because they r advertised as box office kings.sir oruthara overrated nu sollra thagudhi lam namaku kidayadhu.inga yaethana paeruku sondha paisa poattu manistream films panra dhairiyam iruku?only kamal and maniratnam.so paatu vaekardhunaal avar ks ravi kumar madhiri na i dont have answer for that.songs r routed to indian cinema so using it as a tool is not a wrong thing.i dont have enimity with u but u cant say bad about a film maker who got great respect from not ony his present contemporaries but also from great film makers in the past

Pandi, you didn’t get the irony in my post, did you? I admire Mani and I don’t know if that did not reflect in what I wrote. Commercial aspects aside, I feel Mani’s films are grey to the core. I can only appreciate the bits I like – to hell with how many national awards they get. Talking bad about a genius? Where? I just wrote about the issues his films had. And just because gmenon and sraghavan say Mani is their god father doesn’t mean anything. Mani’s cinema is intriguing to me – so I point out the problems I have with it. Just because you worship him, don’t try to shove YOUR sh** on others.

ok i accept what u said.uve got full rights to share ur opinion.yes i worship mani.i think my reply will be apt for our rameshram.any way nice interacting.atleast we r not arguing about a nothing person.s we r arguing about a genius.i think u can accept with me in this”great men cant be seperated from criticisms and if there is no criticism then he cant be a gteat man”.thank u

Pity you Baddy… Definitely don’t deserve the mindless ramblings esplly being followed by such people (I don’t want to call names here). I am excited by your project. Good luck and best wishes for that.. as by any means Mani Ratnam has been trend setter by and large not just in Tamil Cinema. Man behind Nayagan, Iruvar… period, this man obviously deserves to be showcased! And AR Rahman is man who has truly followed the baton of extremely high standards of Ilayaraja and utilized his own trend setting approach in reaching higher pinnacles (for the man revolutionized sound in Indian film music) ; having him write the foreword will be truly a bliss.
You should moderate comments, even if it is entertaining to read… some of them are so distasteful too.
Cheers, Sriram

well in my opinion u can be commercially viable only if u have certain elements in ur films apart from songs.there is a common feeling in the minds of our audience is maniratnam films r for intellectual minds and another thing is this we want maniratnam to make a film which we would like to look up on.ive seen many say mani is not giving solutions to issues which he portrayed in his films.if u watch his films closely u can get answers which he deliberately left it to audience to decide.do u think will a film maker will be able to sell his product to a greater price if its not viable.do u think a k.balachandar or bharathiraja can sell a product like mani today.this is just a question to u thats all?how come every film of his do great business even after repeated box office failures?cholan he knows how to make money.even his kadal with new faces known stars is sold to a record price that shows he is still a running horse.will u accept that guru is a smash hit overseas and it made great profit inside india also.he can easily make films with rajni,ajith and vijay to be commercially successfull but he is always trying something new and experimenting to give us a new experience.

Mani Sir looks really smart in the photo, and of course, Kamal with his usual charm. Am looking forward to this book. But who is going to review your book by the way? Mani, as far as I feel, is a talented “lucky” director. The lucky part is quoted because he was there at the right time, which did not happen with the legendary Mahendran. Best example is, take the case of “Nenjathai Killadhey” and “Mouna Raagam”. The latter is considered an urban classic whereas many of our generation do not know about the former. And coming to Nayagan’s stature, I personally feel “Devar Magan” was a better movie as a whole and it had the same spectacular triumvirate of Kamal-P.C.-Raja. But BR has to give his opinion on this.

For a long time I have been wondering if rameshram is BR’s alter ego – thrash talking, almost always the opposite point of view, mocking at those who praise BR in their comments and lots more. The wonder of the internet!

rangudu wishes. I see myself more like the mottai patti in Hey ram who warns vasundara das not to play outside her limitations while singing the vaishnava janato song.
makes her appearance at 13 s in this clip.

Kutty, if that really is the case , then I’m gob-smacked! To be able to switch from self-effacing, well thought out,intricately crafted and polished prose in love with language to 20 word twitter rants that display no flair for writing, scant respect for punctuation and utter contempt for your audience is truly a breathtaking act of literary ventriloquism 🙂

but more seriously Perish the thought that Im in some way competing with or inspiring comparisons with rangudu…He’s a decent writer with very little film, Im a …kalai aruvi and all round arivu jeevi. 😉 Would be a little bit like comparing George bernard shaw and Albert schwitzer. ;:D

Certainly a good subject to write on, even if I dont share Rangan’s and many others enthusiasm about Mani Ratnam. He is undoubtedly better than most filmmakers of our time. He is a thinking director, executes songs beautifully and has the courage to take on amitious themes. But his filmmaking approach is also very stylised, that takes away from the content and soul of the subject. Something somewhere goes wrong with his films. They all start out beautifully, but the stand-out parts never add up into an emotionally satisfying sum. I think he is successful with themes which are less ambitious- like Mauna Ragam and Saathiya Tamil, but in other cases, whether Kannathil or Bombay or Roja or Guru or Raavan or Yuva – and mind you, all these films have some great moments – tend to end with a whimper after setting up the stage in grand style. There is the lack of emotional sweep in the end.

How cool is this! Mani Ratnam is probably my favorate directors, bar none. Bought my copy from Amazon immediately, and I can’t wait for it to get here! Now, if I can only get to see Kadal on a big screen…I can’t believe it didn’t release here in the States! How was it? I’ve tried to see everything (and own it if possible) if it comes with subtitles. Mouna Ragam is eluding me though. Frustrating.

Dear Baradwaj I was gifted your book ‘Conversations with Mani Ratnam’ by a “kid” in my office for my birthday. It was a really breezy read. To paraphrase myriad movie critics – You’ve gone beyond the script and the director. I read Conversations with Hitchcock twenty five years ago when I was in college and I think this is atleast as good. Not sure Mani was getting irritated with the phrase “the Masala pitch” when he has unequivocally stated his abhorence for anything arty.

“When I bought the ‘Conversations with Mani Ratnam’ book, it didn’t have the chapter on ‘Kadal’. I have read comment threads on your blog where people have asked for that chapter to be made available. I was delighted to find it on Google Play.